Roosevelt Island Park To Host Free Theater Performances

ROOSEVELT ISLAND, NY — After the pandemic pushed it back by a year, a free, three-night theater performance will be held this summer at Roosevelt Island's flagship park.

The play in question is "The Alcestiad," a 1955 work by the playwright Thornton Wilder. Organized by the Magis Theatre Company, it coincides with the run-up to the famed playwright's 125th birthday.

The three-act play will be held from June 18–20 at Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms State Park, backed by the Manhattan skyline and the ruins of the island's smallpox hospital. Tickets are free but must be reserved, and are available now on Eventbrite.

A "rarely performed play," according to organizers, "The Alcestiad" is inspired by Euripedes' tragedy "Alcestis," imagining the mythical Greek princess returning from the land of the dead to a kingdom "overthrown by a tyrant and ravaged by a plague."

"It deals with the power of irrational fear in society at the hands of those who would seek to intimidate others brutally," according to a news release.

"Performing at Four Freedoms Park reminds us that there is still work to be done on 'the freedom from fear,'" Magis Theatre director George Drance said. "The ruins of the Smallpox Hospital reminds us of how we have made it through all this before."

Performances will begin at 7 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Each show is 90 minutes, with no intermission. To get there from Manhattan, take the F train to the Roosevelt Island station, or the Tramway at East 59th Street.

Read more at alcestiad.com.